Strategic Culture Foundation 18-24 December 2011

Russia-EU Energy Ties Under Threat 24.12.2011 | 00:00 | Natalia MEDEN The 20th World Petroleum Congress which convened in Doha, Qatar, in December, 2011, became the scene of a continuing dispute between Russian energy minister Serguey Shmatko and European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger as at the moment the relations in the energy sphere between Russia and the EU are stuck at a fairly low point… Russia and the EU appear to be in the process of drifting apart…more

Can Obama be beaten? 23.12.2011 | 09:50 | Rafe MAIR (Canada) US presidential campaigns have become dirty and hugely expensive with campaigns hugely expensive giving he right wing, big corporation supported Republicans a big boost. 2012 will be no exception… Obama’s main weakness, in my view, has been in foreign policy. He has not seen as strong on Israel as he should be. As Israel continues to occupy property that doesn’t belong to them in defiance of the UN. He has not covered himself in glory over Afghanistan although a departure date has been set… It was George W. Bush’s policy of moving the obligation to pacify occupied countries away from the armed forces to the private sector, with private contractors making billions, that has hugely enlarged the public debt. Obama hasn’t changed this…more

USA Out of Iraq: Connecting Dots and Assessing Prospects

22.12.2011 | 10:19 | Andrei AKULOV On Dec. 15, 2011, the US finally pulled out of the country. Now the operation is over with the lives of 4,487 service members lost and about 33 thousand wounded… Now is the time to have a look at what the aftermath of the ill conceived military operation… The United States proved its inability to effectively fight two simultaneous wars what. When US General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says in an interview with CNN published Wednesday (December 21, 2011) that preparations are being made for a possible strike in Iran a question pops up – has the US military brass absorbed any lessons of Iraq?..more

Geopolitical Outlook for the Czech Republic From Washington’s Perspective

22.12.2011 | 00:00 | Vladislav GULEVICH (Ukraine) The Czech line of conduct depends entirely on Washington which is comfortable with Prague’s and Warsaw’s shared leadership in the Visegrád Group, a military-political alliance of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia with a distinct anti-Russian flavor… The Czech Republic and Poland are used by Washington to keep Moscow and Berlin apart in line with the Anglo-Saxon strategy aimed at suppressing any tendencies towards a Russia-Germany continentalist bloc…more

A Third-Rate Intelligence Agency for a Failing Super-Power: The CIA’s Global Demise

21.12.2011 | 00:00 | Wayne MADSEN (USA) On November 26, a U.S. air strike killed 24 Pakistani military personnel on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan. The incident, which frayed already poor relations between the United States and Pakistan, resulted in the U.S. being expelled from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan, one from which CIA drones were launched… The debacle that resulted in the loss of the Shamsi drone base was followed by the biggest intelligence failure to date, the downing by accident or hostile action, including through possible electronic warfare “spoofing,” of an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth-enabled drone over Iran…more

German Arms Go East

20.12.2011 | 15:06 | Natalia MEDEN The 2010 German government’s annual Defense Exports Report reaffirmed the trend to extention that had already been confirmed by Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI)… It’s the geography of German arms exports that catches an eye. The two directions are becoming more and more distinct: first – the Persian Gulf, second – South, South-East Asia. Those who in theory could join anti-Iran or anti-China coalition…more

A String of Political Assassinations and the US Military Presence

20.12.2011 | 00:00 | Viktor KORGUN In March, 2009, US President B. Obama announced a plan to withdraw the US forces from Afghanistan in 2011-2014. In the meantime, though, the US troops in the country grew in size to reach 100,000 by the spring of 2011, and the actual preparations for the withdrawal began in February, 2011… A series of developments that took place over the past several months in Afghanistan added uncertainties to the situation around the US withdrawal from the country. The US special forces killed Usama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011, but the raid triggered a string of political assassinations in Afghanistan…more

US – Pakistan Dispute Exacerbated. What Now?

19.12.2011 | 11:02 | Andrei AKULOV The US-Pakistan relationship steadily going for the worse is an issue that hits the radar screen of world media outlets… The Shamsi Air Base incident exacerbated the situation to the boiling point… Pakistan has vowed to close permanently the U.S.-NATO logistics routes through which a major part of supplies needed for the Afghanistan war effort must be transported… The deployment of air-defense systems along the border with Afghanistan to counter US air strikes is an intention declared… The USA responded by withholding about $800 million in aid to Pakistan’s armed forces… What now?.. Russia has threatened to cut off the NATO supply routes to Afghanistan if there is no deal on the missile defense in Europe…more

India-Russia Partnership: Continuity in the Midst of Change

18.12.2011 | 19:16 | Aurobinda MAHAPATRA (India) On the issue of Afghanistan, Manmohan Singh argued that in a post-NATO Afghanistan, India and Russia have to play crucial roles to maintain peace and stability in the region… During the summit, India placed an order for 42 Sukhoi-MKI 30 jets… Singh observed, the two sides have concluded negotiations and agreed on the terms and conditions for the Russian credit for Units 3 and 4 of the Kudan Kulam nuclear power project. Both the countries also concluded negotiations with regard to Glonass satellite system being put into orbit by Moscow as an alternative to the West-controlled GPS system…more

Clashes in Kazakhstan: Inspired by the Arab Spring?

18.12.2011 | 19:08 | Aleksandr SHUSTOV In the past few months Kazakhstan, once the quietest country in Central Asia, has turned into a hotbed of extremism… Unrest in Kazakh cities is gaining pace ahead of next month`s parliamentary elections in the country and presidential elections in the years to come. Terror threat has long become a major issue of concern in the country`s domestic policy. And one should not ignore that in the north Kazakhstan has the world`s longest 7,000 km and poorly guarded border with the Russian Federation…more